Readers Speak Out on O. J. Verdict

* Now that O. J. Simpson has been acquitted, I am sure he will want to spend every day and every dime he has to find the real murderer (or murderers) of his wife Nicole.

Good luck, Mr. Simpson, and may God be with you.

HELEN HANSON

Thousand Oaks

* Johnnie Cochran did not make the deck that contained the so-called race card. For years, that deck has been manufactured by opportunistic politicians employing lying, racist cops on the assembly line. The race deck has been sold to white jurors by win-at-all-cost prosecutors willing to wink at law enforcement indiscretions just to get a conviction.

It has been bought by naive and sometimes racist jurors who prefer to give “reasonable doubt” to the Fuhrmans and Vannatters of this world instead of to the defendants. Naturally, when the players lose with their stacked deck, they are the first and loudest to proclaim that the winners cheated.

If Johnnie Cochran played the “race card,” it was a trump from the deck supplied by a racist system that cries foul when, for once, a black man manages to get an acquittal after being accused of murdering a white person. Yeah, it’s time to change the judicial system. We certainly can’t have this kind of justice.

RON NEAL

Thousand Oaks

* I can’t believe you printed the moronic comment, “We all ought to go to Simi Valley and riot,” which was a “middle-aged” Thousand Oaks’ woman’s response to the O. J. verdict (“Residents Ponder Whether Justice Was Served,” Oct. 4).

Just in case this “middle-aged” woman got her trials mixed up, the trial of the LAPD officers involved in the Rodney G. King beating had only two jurors from Simi Valley. It was not a Simi Valley jury. It was a Ventura County jury with jurors from all parts of the county.

MARGIE ROBLIN

Simi Valley

* On Dec. 7, 1941, F.D.R. announced this was a “date which will live in infamy.”

Oct. 3, 1995, is another such date.

JACK MICHELA

Ojai

* The not-guilty verdict in the O. J. trial should persuade us to change the present jury system forever, since the evidence for a guilty verdict was overwhelming.

However, the real travesty of justice is the message it delivers to our youth: Murder and violence are OK, if you don’t get caught. And money, power and a celebrity status will buy you the top criminal lawyers in the country to bail you out.

JOHN V. McNEIL, D.D.S.

Ojai

* People must realize that the jury is there for us, “We the People,” not for the defense nor for the prosecution.

Everyone must consider what would happen if they are ever accused of a crime they did not commit. The jury is the only way to directly control government influence over our lives. I feel that I can protect myself against freed criminals, but how can I protect myself from a government that wants to take away my freedom, possessions or life, and will lie, alter evidence and even create evidence to do so?

If we allow the government to pay professional juries, then we will have no impartiality when we go into a government courtroom in which the defense lawyer, prosecution, judge and jury are all officers of the same government that is prosecuting (persecuting?) us.

PAUL C. ANDERSEN

Ventura

* Hasn’t it become evident that the time has come in America for courtroom trial jurors to be professionals who have been rigorously trained in the science and art of deciding guilt or innocence based solely on germane evidence and argument?

Isn’t it just a little ridiculous to coerce people--oftentimes people with untrained, flat and prejudiced minds--into “sitting on a jury,” locking them away from their families, and subjecting them to hours of frivolous racial and otherwise immaterial puff expounded by arrogant, showy attorneys, and then expecting these jurors to make logically sound judgments?

BRUCE BERCKMAN

Oak View

* Many people in my office were surprised and angry after watching the O. J. verdict. How could our system fail?

Have you ever been on a jury? Do you know anyone who has? The only ones I know were either retired civil servants or out of work.

The next time that envelope comes to your door, don’t look for a way out. Give something back to your community.

LANCE HOLT

Thousand Oaks

* You would think that in a city that has more movie stars than anywhere else in the universe, a jury would not be star-struck. But these jurors were. They fell victim to charisma, a pricey lawyer and memories of injustice.

Nicole and Ron were killed by a butcher. They should have been the stars of this trial, not a wife-beating, has-been actor.

SINARA STULL O’DONNELL

Simi Valley

* It may be worth noting that the Simpson verdict says a lot about the declining state of educational standards in this country.

It is not simply that jurors do not understand DNA. They fail to understand or trust the principles of science.

On the cusp of the 21st Century, the nation that finishes last in scientific education will surely finish last in everything else--justice included.

ADAM MITCHELL

Ojai

* The defense, by presenting a case against the Police Department for distrust, presented to the jurors a ready-made reason to acquit, and they could go home as heroes to their local community, instead of disgraced “Uncle Toms.” Yet, this may cost a very big price in the future of race relations.

The hard-liners, both black and white, will now be energized for more battles to come in the political and social process. This will probably affect how much is given for welfare to the poor in the inner cities and the outcome of the debate over affirmative action. The entire jury system will be suspect when it comes to minority defenses, calling for stricter rules for convictions on jury verdicts, based on a more traditional presentation of the evidence.

Now, the white community can easily identify with being victims of a new era of racism, where a believed double murderer goes free, just to score a touchdown against the system.

GILBERT G. BEEZLEY

Oxnard

* It pained me to hear Judge Lance Ito address O. J. Simpson, a defendant accused of double murder, as “sir.”

I have a feeling that the judge forgot that he was presiding in a real court and not in a TV drama.

JACQUES RENAU

Oxnard

* What a sad day in our history when our system of justice enabled a coldblooded killer to walk free.

We are held to blame, though. As citizens, we have allowed our laws to be compromised by attorneys who have denigrated their oath of office to acquire monetary gain and popularity. These lawyers twist the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights to hide the guilt of their clients.

We have also permitted relentless attacks on victims to continue and, in some cases, go unnoticed. This is preposterous and unacceptable. Our system needs a major overhaul.

SHAWN FAIRMAN

Simi Valley

* Just like many people, I am outraged by the Simpson verdict, but I’m not surprised. In fact, it is the only possible verdict that this jury could give.

Place yourself in the position of a middle-aged black woman (or any of the other jurors) who lives in South-Central Los Angeles. The evidence presented by the prosecution is overwhelming, but that doesn’t matter.

As a juror, what do you think your life is going to be like when you go back to the neighborhood after a verdict of guilty? On the other hand, you give a verdict of not guilty and you are an instant hero and celebrity at home.

DALE GUSTAFSON

Simi Valley